Flossie Iqilan Spencer

Flossie Iqilan Spencer, Inupiaq, is a self-taught skin sewer. Her family is from Utqiaġvik (Barrow) and Wainwright, Alaska where residents maintain a strong connection to their heritage through hunting, fishing, and trapping and the local arts include ivory carving and skin sewing.

Flossie has fond childhood memories of sitting and watching her Ahka (grandmother) use her teeth to make hard soles for mukluks and sew for hours crafting skins into wearables. Flossie continues the tradition and uses natural materials given to her by her cousin.  He is a whaling captain and polar bear hunter.

Flossie spent several years traveling to remote Alaskan villages teaching sewing, traditional values, and suicide prevention.